


Zebulon Finch Discovers the iPod

by petaldust



Category: Zebulon Finch - Daniel Kraus
Genre: Gen, i hate this bastard but GOD hes fun to try writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 03:38:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19821772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petaldust/pseuds/petaldust
Summary: in which zebulon, well, learns what an ipod is. genuinely just me using any excuse to write in this bastard's voice.





	Zebulon Finch Discovers the iPod

Dearest Reader, you’ve followed me through over a century of the American Empire’s rise, fall, and sink into decay. Together we have weathered wars, laid witness to loss, and encountered utter endlessness. 

Yet this rotten land never fails to surprise. 

In the years since I rose from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, I have wandered adrift. Though Gød was never one to listen, I have found my damnation quite the trial since his children followed suit. After all, what was my nineteenth-century eloquence if not my last saving grace? It may have caused me trouble in life, and in death arguably even more so, but I would not have reached the heights I fell from without my wordsmithing. 

Sometimes, though, luck smiles upon me and I receive the briefest, gentlest touch of humanity’s kindness. 

That particular day, I was shambling through some putrid alleyway when I heard a, “Hey, mister!” 

I froze. It was a shrill, eager voice that’d called out. A child. Though some part of me still ached for what I’d had with the Whites, I’d learned to avoid the jeering jeuveniles. Some of them were sadistic and wanted nothing more than to chase after and beat a mute and mangled stranger.

But then the child kept talking. “Hey, can you do me a favour and open the trashcan lid over there? Pleeeaaase?” 

I complied. After all, why not? I had no voice to object with. 

Atop the trash and sludge lay an item I’d never seen before. It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and held an uncanny silver sheen that reminded me of NASA’s sleek steel satellites. This device, however, was no rocket taking off in a fiery display. Instead, two chords snaked from its bottom, ending in two white… buds of some kind. 

“D’you see my mp3 player?” The kid asked. “It’s got earbuds and it plays music. I have the Britney Spears album. My brother took it, and I think he hid it here. He’s the worst.” 

I picked up the device–an mp3 player?–and it reacted to my touch, switching on. It was featureless, save for a screen and a little white circle beneath it. And the boy had called the other piece… earbuds? 

Oh, all this newfangled technology. It made my head spin. Was this some kind of music-playing device? It certainly didn’t look like Leather’s hulking old Victrola, and made even the trashy tin radio Church and I had shared look gargantuan. 

Skeptical, I placed one of the earbuds in my ear. It made a squelching sound upon entry but stayed in place. I clicked what looked like a play button on the device. 

Sound burst from the tiny machine, directly into my skull. Tinny strings echoed about, and it took me by such surprise I dropped the infernal thing. Even on the ground, it soldiered on, a woman’s voice crackling through the tiny speakers. 

"Baby can’t you see…"

The boy, unfazed, skittered over and snatched the ipod off the ground. The earbud I’d used was smeared black by some indistinct smudge, but judging from the look on his face, the boy chalked this up to the trash. 

“Oh, thank Gød it’s okay,” he whispered. “Thanks, mister.” 

I tried something of a smile. The colour left his face. 

“Y-You have a good day!” He sputtered out before turning tail and racing off. 

So, I’d lost my signature Zebby grin. That was more than fair. But I’d also learned something. An mp3 player, he’d called it? I’d have to get my hand (singular) on one sometime.


End file.
